Suturable surgical adhesive material and method of using same



Nov. 24, 1942. E. M. MORGAN 2,303,131 SUTURABLE SURGICAL ADHESEIQVE MATERIAL AND METHOD OF USING SAME Filed Apyil 25. 1941' Patented Nov. 24, 1942 SUTURABLE SURGICAL ADHESIVE MATE- RIAL AND METHOD OF USING SAME Eva M. Morgan, Los Angeles, Calif. Application April 25, 1941, Serial No. 390,222

1 Claim.

'Ihis invention relates to a suturable surgical adhesive material and to a method of using the same in treating wounds of an incised or open character.

Among the objects of the invention are: to provide, in a form suitable for being unwound from a roll, a novel kind of thick, adhesive sheet material to which sutures can be more advan- ,tageously applied to draw together the sides of an open wound; to provide a layer of adhesively coated material all portions of which can be readily sewed through in applying surgical ligature for the purpose of drawing together the sides of a wound of a gapping nature; to provide improved means whereby adhesive strips and sutures passed through them are utilized to securely hold together the sides of a wound and yet the wound, located in an open space between the strips, may be treated or dressed surgically, or may have thelight of therapeutic lamps directed upon it, without the necessity of removing the adhered strips, which proceeding would be apt to separate the lips of the wound and delay healing; and to provide, in conjunction with a thick, adhesively coated sheet material,

a combination of short, deep and of long, shallow sutures through juxtaposed, applied pieces of said material, to more efficiently protect a wound.

Another object of the invention is to provide superior means for drawing together the edge portions of irregularly shaped incised wounds and then securely maintaining such wounds in a closed condition until healing has taken place.

Viewed as a method, the invention includes the use, in conjunction with a novel kind of adhesively coated material adhered to the flesh at opposite sides of a wound; of two kinds of stitching whereby the adjacent pieces of said material are utilized to draw the sides of the wound together and maintain them in proper contact until healing takes place.

The invention includes, as a new article of manufacture, a superior layer of adhesively coated material capable of having surgical sutures applied to it in a more advantageous manner.

Other objects, advantages and features of invention will hereinafter appear.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, which illustrates what is at present deemed to be a preferred embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the application, to an irregularly shaped incised wound, of the means provided by the invention for clos ing incisions of this character, and then maintaining them in a closed condition to promote healing.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a partly used roll of the adhesively coated material, dotted lines indicating how to cut the unrolled material preparatory to applying it to an incised wound of the shape shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the layer of adhesively coated material provided by the invention as it appears after being applied to an incision of a slightly sinuous shape.

Fig. 4 is a plan view showing the material applied to a Wound comprising two adjacent incisions.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged'cross sectional view, the plane of section being indicated by the line 55 on Fig. 3. This view also illustrates the manner of suturing wounds like that shown in Figs. 1 and 4.

Fig. 6 is a reproduction of Fig. 5 except that it shows the suturing operation completed, where as in Fig. 5 the stitches have not been tightened, and consequently the wound still remains in an open condition.

Referring in detail to the drawing, in Fig. 2 there is shown, partly unwound from a spool 9, a layer or thick sheet of felt, or felt like, material IU having a coat of sterilized adhesive ll applied to one face which is protected by a covering of thin sheet material l2, preferably crinoline, capable of being manually stripped oif preparatory to using the adhesive coat to cause the layer of felt to be adhered to the skin of the patient. But in order to avoid gumming the cutting implement, before the protecting sheet [2 is removed, the portion of the material to be used should be out, both to sever it from the remainder of the roll and to form it into suitably shaped pieces for being used as elsewhere. illustrated in the drawing.

Assuming that an irregularly shaped cut, or for example, a broadly N-shaped incision is to be treated, the strip will be cut as indicated in Fig. 2 by the N-shaped dotted line it"), and will then be severed from the roll along the line l6, thus producing, after removal of the protecting sheet [2, two separate pieces l1 and IQ of the thick, adhesively coated felt, for being appliedto the Wound IQ of the flesh 20 in the mannnillustrated in Figs. 1, 5 and 6.

In Figs. 5 and 6 the parts shown in sectionmay well be assumed to illustrate, not only the pieces 2! and 22 of Fig. 3, but also the pieces i'l and I8 of Figs. 1 and 2. From said 5 and 6 it will vpreciable amount of their tractive. power.

.ness.

applying the deeper sutures the needle point will be caused to enter and to emerge relatively near the adjacent edges of the strips 2| and 22 (I1 and I8) but in applying the shallow sutures the needle point will be caused to enter and to emerge considerably farther from said edges.

It will be seen that in Fig. 4 the general outline of the three approximated pieces 33, 34 and 35 is rectangular, and therefore the three pieces may all be formed out of a single cut-off section of the rolled up material.

In all the arrangements illustrated of applied stitches, the interrupted type of stitch is shown, but it is to be understood that continuous stitching, both of the deep and of the shallow character, may be used wherever desired.

It should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purpose of illustration only and that this invention includes all modifications Moreover, the deep stitches 25, by reason of passj ing through the part of the adhered felt which.

is close to the skin, do not, notwithstanding the yielding nature of the material, lose any ap- The suturable material, in order to permit of this deep and shallow suturing, should be not less than about three-sixteenths of an inch in thick- It should be capable of being readily sutured through, but also should be of sufficient tenacity to prevent the applied sutures from yielding.

In Fig. 4 are indicated two adjacent incised wounds 3| and 32, the former being a nearly straight out and the latter having a curved end portion. In this view out strips 33, 34 and 35 are shown of the adhesively coated material provided by the invention, these three strips being shown as they would appear when still adhering to the flesh of the patient after the Wounds have become partly healed. The wound is here shown exposed to a somewhat greater extent so that it may be more readily treated by the therapeutic lamps, or otherwise.

and equivalents which fall within the scope of the subject matter claimed.

What is claimed is:

In an applied surgical dressing, two adjacent pieces each consisting of a layer of suturable material and each of which is adhered to the flesh by means of a coat of adhesive carried by its under face and extending to its inner edge in relation to the other piece, each of said pieces being of a sufiicient thickness to receive sutures of definitely different depths, a set of deep sutures whereby said pieces are drawn toward each other to maintain an intervening wound in a. closed condition, all portions of said deep sutures being located close to the adjacent edges of said adhered pieces and said deep sutures entering the upper surface of each of said pieces and emerging from said piece close to its underside,

and a second set of sutures which occupy only the superficial portion of each of said adhered pieces and serving to reinforce the action of the first recited sutures, each suture of said second set extending out to a considerably greater distance from the space between said pieces, all of said sutures being exterior to the flesh.

EVA M. MORGAN. 

